


Umbrella

by Kiraly



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: F/M, Hypochondria, Meet-Cute, Rain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:31:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7890046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance meeting on a rainy day marks a turning point for Saku. Years later, another rainy day shows that even as the world changes, some things stay the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Umbrella

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/gifts).



> Hello there, Rarepair participant! I read your letter and decided to go ahead and write a little treat for you. I got inspired by the [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZEoKqjfvkw) you linked for this pairing, so hopefully you like the result!

Saku slogged his way to the bus stop, clutching his red umbrella like a lifeline. Not that it did much good; he was soaked from the knees down, and that was probably all it would take. It’d be pneumonia for sure this time, and everyone knew pneumonia could kill. _So long, cruel world,_ he thought, as a passing car hit a puddle and sprayed him, _I’m amazed you let me stick around this long._

With this cheerful thought to occupy him, he didn’t notice the other person waiting for the bus until one of her parcels hit the ground with a splash.

“Oh, dear,” she said, shifting her other bags so she could reach for it without dropping anything else. The words shook Saku out of his misery for a moment.

“Here, wait, let me.” He stooped to retrieve the bag. She certainly had a lot of them; it seemed she was on her way back from grocery shopping. And all those bags weighing down her arms left her no free hand to hold an umbrella. “I don’t know if it will help much, but you’re welcome to share my umbrella, miss. Awful weather, isn’t it?”

“A bit,” she replied. “I forgot my umbrella this morning, and I’d hoped the rain would be done by now. Thank you.” She scooted closer to get under the umbrella’s dubious protection. “On your way home from work?” she asked.

Saku nodded. “Yeah. Not much business today. I guess people don’t like to buy books in weather like this, they’d rather stay at home and read the ones they already have.”

“You work at the book shop!” The girl’s eyes lit up. Now that she stood closer, he could see her more clearly: silvery hair, eyes the color of low-hanging rainclouds. She smiled. “That must be a great job.”

“Ah, well...sometimes, yes. It’s a lot of customer service, really.” Customers who put their germy hands all over everything, who coughed on the merchandise and handed over money that had been who-knows-where. It was a miracle he hadn’t been exposed to some deadly super-virus yet.

The girl chuckled. “Oh, I feel for you. Customers can be...well, the best and worst part of a job like that. I’m a waitress,” she added.

 _A waitress? Wow, and I thought I had it bad! She has to worry about sick customers_ and _food poisoning. She’s so brave._ He weighed the words in his head, decided they made him sound like a crazy person, and said instead, “You must be amazing at your job, then. I probably wouldn't last a day.”

“Why do you say that?”

 _Oh. That...didn’t make any sense, did it?_ “Sorry, I meant...you’re balancing all those heavy bags, and you’re so cheerful even in this awful rain. Those seem like good skills for a waitress to have.”

“Ha! Yes, I guess so. I hadn’t thought about it like that.” She glanced down the road. “Hey, which bus are you waiting for?”

He followed her gaze. “Oh, the, uh—” _Crap._ “That one, actually.”

She reached for the bag he still held for her. “Well, thanks for the loan of your umbrella. It was nice chatting with you!”

“No, hang on—” The bus rattled to a stop, but Saku made no move to get on it. “I can’t just leave you here in the rain. There will be another one in a few minutes, I can wait.”

“Are you _sure?_ That’s really sweet of you, but you don’t have to stay on my account.”

He wasn’t sure at all; the longer he stood here, the more likely it was that he’d be dead of pneumonia by morning. But if he left her in the rain, where _she_ could catch pneumonia...no. He couldn’t live with himself. “I’m certain. As long as you don’t mind. I know I’m not always the best company.”

The bus chugged away, and the girl shook her head. “I don’t mind at all. And I think you’re selling yourself short. I’m enjoying your company.”

“Really?”

She laughed. “You sound so surprised!”

“Well, most people find me a little...pessimistic.”

Her eyes gleamed. “Maybe they aren’t looking hard enough, then.”

Saku fumbled for a response, but before he could think of one, another bus pulled up. “Oh, this is me!” The girl reclaimed her bag and started forward. Too late, Saku realized he should have asked for something—her phone number, where she worked— _some_ clue so he could find her again.

“Wait!”

She stopped and leaned out the door. “Yes?”

“What’s your name?”

She smiled. “I’m Aino. Aino Hotakainen. And who are you, my kind umbrella man?” The bus started to drive off.

“I’m Saku! It was nice to meet you, Aino!” Then the bus was too far away for any more words, and Saku was left standing in the rain.

_What a sweet girl. I hope she doesn’t get pneumonia, that would be a shame. Not that it matters to me, of course. I’m going to die of pneumonia for sure. I probably won’t ever see her again._

* * *

 

Strangely enough, Saku _didn’t_ die of pneumonia. All that time in the rain, and he caught nothing worse than a little sniffle that cleared up after a day or two. Three days later, his other prediction was also proved wrong.

“Saku!”

His head jerked up at the sound of his name, interrupting his contemplation of the papercut between his fingers. He’d been wondering if it would get infected and kill him. Could someone die of a papercut? He probably could.

“Oh! Aino. We meet again.”

“Yes, and under better weather this time. Though I did bring an umbrella, just in case.” Aino swung the item in question back and forth, nearly smacking Saku in the shin.

“It’s good to be prepared,” he said. “Say, are you catching the same bus? I think that’s it coming around the corner.”

Aino leaned around him to look. “So it is. Drat!” She frowned at the bus, then looked back at Saku. “Well, I imagine there will be another one along shortly. So tell me, what else do you do besides the book shop?”

“Ah…” Was she really going to miss her bus to talk to him? He couldn’t understand why. “Well, I read, of course. Comes with the territory.”

“Oh, sure! You must be so tempted with all those books around you all day. What do you like to read?”

“A bit of everything, really. Novels, some nonfiction. Poetry.”

“Ooh!” She caught his arm, face alight with excitement. “I _love_ poetry, but I never know what to read next. Give me some suggestions?”

Saku blinked, shook his head— _I can’t believe this is really happening—_ and started, tentatively, to list some titles. Before he knew it, his bus was there, then gone again because he certainly wasn’t going to leave halfway through the conversation. Several more buses passed them both before they finally parted ways, each with a hastily scrawled phone number and a promise to meet up for coffee sometime.

Coffee turned into dinner. Dinner led to movies and evenings swapping poems behind the bookstore’s “closed” sign. In between, they often met up at the bus stop. Even if it rained, sometimes they’d let bus after bus pass them by. Until one rainy evening, Aino boarded a bus and Saku followed her. Shared bus route, shared name, shared life.

* * *

 

Years later, Saku found himself dying under yet another steady drizzle. He might be seasick. He might have pneumonia. He might have that rash illness. No matter what happened, he was sure he’d die sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Footsteps splashed across the deck. He didn’t turn from the rail, but he knew who it was even before she laid a soothing hand on his back. “Hey, Sweetie.”

“Aino. I’m really dying this time.”

She rubbed circles in the damp fabric of his coat, leaning close. The rain slacked off abruptly; she held an umbrella over them both. “Saku...what if...no, I’m being silly.”

The worry in her voice made him look up. “What is it?”

Aino brushed a wisp of hair off her husband’s forehead. “It’s just...the way people are talking, it sounds like things are getting bad out there. Maybe...maybe death isn’t as far away as I’d like to think.”

Saku straightened, ignoring the way his stomach roiled at the movement. It was one thing for _him_ to worry about dying. He was always dying of something-or-other. Aino, though, was not supposed to die. She was too sweet.

“Hey, it’s all right. Come here.” He wrapped his arms around her—and there was a lot of her to embrace now, with the tangible proof of their love waiting under her sweater. “Maybe things really are bad. But we’re together. And if you want to talk about dying...well, I’ll have you know I’m an expert on dying. And nothing has managed to kill me yet.” He kissed her forehead. “So stick with me, and we’ll not-die together. All three of us.”

Aino smiled then, and rested her head on his chest. “All right. As long as we’re together.”

“Don’t worry, my love. I won’t take that bus without you.”

They stood there for a long time, letting the red umbrella shelter them from the rain.


End file.
